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Diehard New Yorker Steve Buscemi was an independent film icon, both as a perennial favorite of respected filmmakers like the Coen Brothers, and as a writer and director in his own right. Throughout the decades of prolific work that followed his rise from the East Village arts boon of the 1980s, Buscemi stayed close to his roots in avant-garde film, but he also made a dent at the multiplex in character roles in big budget comedies and action films. Buscemi's predilection for off-kilter criminal minds, inept underachievers, and sad sack loners was only boosted by his non-traditional looks, lending his characters an air of realism. In addition to career-making roles in "Reservoir Dogs" (1992), "Fargo" (1996), "Con-Air" (1997) and "Ghost World" (2001), Buscemi gained prominence as a director following his feature debut, "Trees Lounge" (1997). From 2000-04, he was highly regarded for his work directing and acting on HBO's megahit series "The Sopranos" and, following his demise on the show, resumed his average of five film appearances a year. In 2010, he toplined the Martin Scorsese-produced HBO series "Boardwalk Empire," receiving critical kudos for his layered performance in the Prohibition-era series. With an ever-growing résumé of memorable parts and no lack of quality filmmakers knocking down his door, the quirky Buscemi became one of the most dependable character actors of his generation.Steven Vincent Buscemi was born on Dec.13, 1957 to working-class parents in Brooklyn. For the first eight years of his life, he lived in the rough East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, in a house shared with aunts, uncles, and cousins. His family was his first audience, with the youngster performing jokes, skits and magic shows for them at the kitchen table when he was not busy drawing or daydreaming of being an actor one day. At the age of seven, he got his first film role, playing the bad guy in a Super 8 home movie version of Batman. The family moved to suburban Valley Stream, Long Island, when Steve was eight years old, where he grew into a skinny, wise-ass teenager who excelled at wrestling and soccer, as well as dabbled in school theatrical productions. However, at this age, he did not have the confidence to pursue his desire to entertain. After graduating from Valley Stream High School, Buscemi took a Civil Service exam and embarked on several years of odd jobs while waiting for his name to come up for a job with the FDNY. He pumped gas, drove an ice cream truck, and spent empty nights at a local bar - an aimless existence that would become the basis of his writing/directing debut, "Trees Lounge"(1997). But the road to that debut began in 1977 when the aimless bar fly summoned up the nerve to enroll in acting classes at the famed Lee Strasberg Institute in Manhattan.At the Strasberg Institute, it was a long journey coaxing the natural talent out of Buscemi, who was unnerved by his lack of both stage experience and urban sophistication. Nonetheless, he moved to Manhattan after a year of classes and found himself falling in step with the fertile East Village performing arts scene. He began performing stand-up comedy and making inroads with the downtown theater communities of The Westbeth, PS 122, La Mama, and The Kitchen. In 1980, Buscemi's name rose to the top of the FDNY list, so he finally took a firefighting position with Engine No. 55 in SoHo. He tried to keep his artistic ambitions low-profile but eventually he began performing stand-up at parties for fellow firefighters. Over time, the self-deprecating comic wanted to focus more on acting and finally gained his first critical acclaim with "Steve & Mark," an avant garde comedy duo he formed with actor Mark Boone Jr. Over the next eight years, they performed together, they received notice from The New York Times and ramped up to producing an entirely new show of material every week.Meanwhile, Buscemi landed his first small independent screen role in "The Way It Is" (1986), and the